Rose’s Luxury – Michelin Star Dining in DC

Last year D.C. got it first 12 Michelin star restaurants, one of which is Rose’s Luxury in Eastern market. I’ve wanted to try this place for a few years now, but they are only open for dinner and don’t take reservations. People line up several hours before the opening to get a table. I was lucky enough to finally be able to try this amazing food.

The line – all they way to the gentleman n the white shirt and just as long behind me

Being vegetarian, sometimes it can be a struggle at the finer restaurants, but the menu here clearly listed the items that can be made vegetarian. Each of the dished I had tasted complete and not the leftover from complete carnivorous meal.

The meal started off with warm challah bread braided with chocolate rye served with a sea salt, honey, roasted caraway butter. The marble bread was such a really good balance of flavors. It was such a beautiful start to the meal.

Next was a Asian inspired savory lychee salad with coconut habanero foam served over peanuts and mint. It has similarities to a Thai papaya salad with peanuts and the spices. I was very hesitant to order this since I’m not a huge sweet, savory combo fan, but the waitress highly recommended it, so I tried it. This dish was just spectral! I literally drank the left over dressing at the bottom with a spoon. I think this was my favorite dish of the meal.

Following the appetizer was a rigatoni with vodka sauce with mascarpone folded in, some crushed red pepper, and fresh basil. While this sounds like a normal pasta, it tasted like nothing I’ve ever had before. This had such a rich creamy texture but still very light and like any good vodka sauce had a nice spicy bite.

And finally for dessert I was debating between the Inner keeper’s pie and the coconut ice cream, so that chef sent out both for me to try. The pie is made out of a yellow cake crust, filled with a orange infused chocolate walnut custard toped with more walnuts, oranges infused chocolate mousse and milk cream. This was very rich and decedent but for me had an overwhelming orange flavor. I could only eat a couple of bites of the pie – which very rare for me, since I really love desserts.

The Inn Keeper’s PieLuckily I had a backup. I really enjoyed the second dessert the chef sent out. The coconut based ice creams was served with burnt coconut chips and a caramel type sauce. While it sounds really simple, it was more than just ice cream. It had such and amazing play on flavors and textures with the slight bitterness and hard crunch from the burnt coconut chips, against the freshness of the actual ice cream, mixed with the sweetness of the sauce really made the dessert very unique.

This meal was every bit as amazing as I expected it to be. I literally relished every bite of this delicious food. It’s talented chefs like this that can take simple dishes we’ve had and make them into a work of art. It’s clear why Rose’s Luxury has a Michelin star. Slowing working my way through the DC food scene. 3 Michelin star restaurant check – 9 more to go.